p8nda
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降

jiàng / xiáng
verb HSK 4 #3,853

Meanings

  1. 1 to drop; to fall
  2. 2 to descend; to land
  3. 3 to lower; to reduce

Examples

气温降了十度。
Qìwēn jiàng le shí dù.
The temperature dropped ten degrees.
今天的降雨量很大。
Jīntiān de jiàngyǔliàng hěn dà.
Today's rainfall was very heavy.
价格降到了最低点。
Jiàgé jiàng dào le zuìdīdiǎn.
The price dropped to its lowest point.

Tips

usage
jiàng is the everyday reading — anything that physically or metaphorically goes down: 降低 (lower), 降温 (cool down), 降落 (land), 降价 (cut price), 下降 (decline). The solar term 霜降 (Frost's Descent, around Oct 23) also uses jiàng.
mistakes
Two readings. jiàng is HSK 4 and covers everything physical or figurative that descends. The xiáng reading (see the xiáng entry) is locked to military/figurative submission compounds — 投降 (surrender), 降服 (yield), 降伏 (subdue), 降龙伏虎 (vanquish dragons and tigers). Same character, opposite halves of the meaning space.

Components

radical
阝 fù
mound; hill (left-阝)
Left ear 阝 — the side-form of 阜 (mound), Kangxi #170. On the LEFT it always means 'hill, slope, stepped earth'; on the RIGHT it would be 邑 (city). 降 originally pictured feet stepping down a hill, hence 'descend, fall, lower.' Same radical in 院, 阶, 险, 阳, 阴.
semantic
夅 xiáng
two feet stepping down
Right side 夅 — two downward-pointing feet, the original picture of someone stepping off a height. Together with the hill on the left this gives the literal scene of descending a slope. 夅 is rarely seen alone today, but survives as the phonetic-semantic core of 降 and 隆.

Stroke Order

降 jiàng